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Getting Up To Speed With…Nick Trenchard

Getting Up To Speed With…Nick Trenchard
By Ben Deatherage
(Photo Courtesy of RaceImages.net)
One of the young rising stars in the IMCA Modified world is coming out of the Klamath Basin. Second-generation driver Nick Trenchard had a sensational 2013 season and after traveling to different tracks over the last few years has really started to hone his skills as a race car driver.

Trenchard, a former Southern Oregon Speedway Modified Rookie of the Year Award winner, hopes to see the Cottage Grove Speedway a lot more this coming season if funding allows. Already he has picked up three new sponsors (including Lithia Dodge-Toyota of Klamath Falls, JDM Racing Solution, and Gilbertson Trucking) and will pilot a new Larry Shaw Race Car chassis as well for car owners Rich and Nicky Biehn. The Klamath Falls native hopes to make an even bigger splash in 2014 as he looks to build off of last year. Now let’s get up to speed with Nick Trenchard.

BD: How did your whole racing adventure start?
NT: My dad raced Modifieds and when I was real young he put me in a Kage Kart but we didn’t have funding to race all the time. When I turned sixteen he threw me into a Modified at a test and tune and I was scared to death. It took me a year or two to get comfortable and then I quit going to test and tunes and ended up going to actual races.

BD: Well Nick last year seemed to be a really breakout year with some very impressive performances?
NT: That was for sure a good year for us. We definitely learned a lot. In previous years we just raced around Medford and just ran with the same guys. We tried different stuff and ran different tracks. It really showed results at the end of the year.

I won a $1,000 to win race at Yreka and lead thirty-five laps of the Mod Nationals in Elma. We ended up going too many laps under caution at Elma and I started running out of fuel and got passed for the lead and ended up light at the scales.

After that we stayed in the Medford area and got three wins. I led the Lon Skinner Memorial too but got spun around which was a heartbreaker. But overall I’m happy with last year’s accomplishments.

BD: After the Northwest Modified Nationals in Elma you guys sold the car and then bought a new one, right?
NT: Actually no I used an older car for the rest of the year. After the Mod Nationals we weren’t planning on selling the car but I talked to my car owner Saturday morning to put a for sale sign on the car. It sold that night after it ran so well in the main event. We had my dad’s car sitting around so I ran that for the rest of the year.

BD: The Biehn family seem to be real big supporters of you and you’re racing efforts?
NT: They are just an old retired couple. Nicky is an artist and also into jewelry while Rich just takes care of the business. They’re huge supporters of mine there is no way I would be able to do it without them.

My dad owned a body shop and they wrecked there truck. They brought my dad their truck and noticed we had race cars. They were fans of the old Klamath Speedway and started giving us a little money. It eventually turned into them buying me some race cars.

BD: Your number I’ve always seen you run is #54. Is that a special number?
NT: Yes it’s my dad’s uncle Larry Schlee from the bay area who won a bunch of races in the 1970’s. He ran that number. It’s just a number that has stuck with the family.

The Cottage Grove Speedway is set to host a test and tune play day on Saturday April 5th while the first race of the year is planned for the following Saturday on the 12th. Log on to www.cottagegrovespeedway.com for news stories and articles related to the upcoming 2014 campaign.

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